The high-profile coach arrived in Ann Arbor with great fanfare, but for the third straight season, Michigan is out of the national title conversation

On Saturday, Michigan will host Rutgers and, in all likelihood, mercilessly pulverize a weaker team. To put it another way, it won’t be too different from what Penn State did to the Wolverines this past weekend.

Two and a half years into Jim Harbaugh’s tenure, this is the state of Michigan football: The Wolverines are decent. And that’s better than worse-than-decent, but it isn’t exactly a compliment, either, for one of the game’s pre-eminent powerhouses.